Refrigeration systems that use external ambient air to refrigerate an enclosed space have been previously attempted by those in the field with limited success. Specifically, such traditional external ambient air refrigeration systems are limited by several physical, as well as, design aspects reducing their effectiveness if not rendering them completely non-functional. Examples of these limited and in actuality non-functional systems have been previously described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,239,834, 4,619,114, 4,175,401, 4,178,770, 4,023,947, 4,147,038, 4,272,966 and 4,244,193 which are all hereby incorporated in their entirety by reference. For example, as generally described in the above references, traditional refrigeration systems may bring external ambient air directly into a refrigerated space and exhaust warmer air. Such systems generally require the use of an air-to-air heat exchanger to transfer cold outside air to warmer air recirculating from the refrigerated space without ever mixing the two air streams. However, there have been no inventions that use the same methodology as the invention described below.
In a preferred embodiment, the inventive technology may cool an enclosed space utilizing, for example, a modular designed duct system that may deliver a specific volume of supply air to an enclosed space at a specific temperature differential (TD) in relation to a desired set point of the enclosed space. This may be accomplished by mixing cold outside air and return air, or even running the return air through a fluid heat transfer chiller coil that may be cooled to varying temperatures by outside air utilizing an external chilling unit. The improvements of inventive technology overcome the aforementioned systems and address the need to maintain the quality and integrity of any product stored in the refrigerated space by not subjecting it to extreme temperature swings, thereby maintaining a more constant holding temperature similar to the way existing conventional mechanical refrigeration systems—those with a closed loop configuration having a condenser and evaporator—operate, but with a fraction of the energy consumption.
It should be noted that the foregoing problems regarding refrigeration systems and processes may represent a long-felt need for an effective solution to the same. While implementing elements may have been available, actual attempts to meet this need may have been lacking to some degree. This may have been due to a failure of those having ordinary skill in the art to fully appreciate or understand the nature of the problems and challenges involved. As a result of this lack of understanding, attempts to meet these long-felt needs may have failed to effectively solve one or more of the problems or challenges here identified. These attempts may even have led away from the technical directions taken by the present inventive technology and may even result in the achievements of the present inventive technology being considered to some degree an unexpected result of the approach taken by some in the field.